Hark over yonder, Euros! Methinks I see an apparition over there through the Ryder Cup debacle and the match-play disappointments and the Tiger Woods stock fluctuations and the conspicuous absence of Roger Federer and the gleefully short-lived English gloating: Tiger's winning streak is still alive!

As I shake the sand out of my hair, and rub the grains from my eyes, I see the continuation of  Woods' dominance, rising like a phoenix from the sandtrap, a six-match stroke play record (I knew there had to be an extant streak in there somewhere) to remind all of the individual brilliance which an American has procured in the global sport of golf.

Does the Tiger streak make up for the failing US team efforts in the Ryder Cup and some glitches on his own resume in match play? Can his individual brilliance gloss over the glaring inadequacies of the US in team play? Yes? No? Maybe? I say who cares! Sport, like life, just keeps on going. It's time to return once again to revelry in the brilliance of the Tiger.

An all-time standard of six consecutive stroke-play victories, at the same time becoming the first man to win eight tournaments in a single year for the third time. And he is only 30 years old!

Tiger has single-handedly raised his sport to greater prominence than ever before; he has created earning opportunities for all his peers; anyone who challenges his on-course dominance becomes an overnight sensation. In a business (sport) where hype by nature outweighs performance, Tiger is the one athlete who is not overrated. Whether you say defence or defense, whinging or whining, pot-ayto or pot-ahto, the entire golfing world can be grateful to Tiger Woods. But America still proudly claims him (we'll even adopt his Swedish wife!), swooshes and stripes forever.

And for provincial loyalists to the right of the Atlantic eagerly anticipating the next downfall of Tiger and Les Americains at the next Ryder Cup in 2008, I suggest you mark the time over that span either by Tiger major victories (between five and eight), or Tiger Grand Slams (one or two). Now, if Roger Federer can only rearrange his schedule.